|desc=Whether to sniff multiple channels or a single channel. '''No''' means that all channel settings will be taken from "/interface wireless", '''Yes''' means that all channel settings will be taken from "scan-list" under "/interface wireless".

+

|desc=Whether to sniff multiple channels or a single channel. '''No''' means that all channel settings will be taken from '''/interface wireless''', '''Yes''' means that all channel settings will be taken from '''scan-list''' under '''/interface wireless'''.

Allow WEP Shared Key clients to connect. Note that no authentication is done for these clients (WEP Shared keys are not compared to anything) - they are just accepted at once (if access list allows that)

ampdu-priorities (list of integer [0..7]; Default: 0)

Frame priorities for which AMPDU sending (aggregating frames and sending using block acknowledgment) should get negotiated and used. Using AMPDUs will increase throughput, but may increase latency, therefore, may not be desirable for real-time traffic (voice, video). Due to this, by default AMPDUs are enabled only for best-effort traffic.

amsdu-limit (integer [0..8192]; Default: 8192)

Max AMSDU that device is allowed to prepare when negotiated. AMSDU aggregation may significantly increase throughput especially for small frames, but may increase latency in case of packet loss due to retransmission of aggregated frame. Sending and receiving AMSDUs will also increase CPU usage.

amsdu-threshold (integer [0..8192]; Default: 8192)

Max frame size to allow including in AMSDU.

antenna-gain (integer [0..4294967295]; Default: 0)

Antenna gain in dBi, used to calculate maximum transmit power according to country regulations.

antenna-mode (ant-a | ant-b | rxa-txb | txa-rxb; Default: )

Select antenna to use for transmitting and for receiving

ant-a - use only 'a' antenna

ant-b - use only 'b' antenna

txa-rxb - use antenna 'a' for transmitting, antenna 'b' for receiving

rxa-txb - use antenna 'b' for transmitting, antenna 'a' for receiving

area (string; Default: )

Identifies group of wireless networks. This value is announced by AP, and can be matched in connect-list by area-prefix.
This is a proprietary extension.

Time in microseconds which will be used to send data without stopping. Note that no other wireless cards in that network will be able to transmit data during burst-time microseconds. This setting is available only for AR5000, AR5001X, and AR5001X+ chipset based cards.

Use of extension channels (e.g. Ce, eC etc) allows additional 20MHz extension channels and if it should be located below or above the control (main) channel. Extension channel allows 802.11n devices to use up to 40MHz (802.11ac up to 160MHz) of spectrum in total thus increasing max throughput. Channel widths with XX and XXXX extensions automatically scan for a less crowded control channel frequency based on the number of concurrent devices running in every frequency and chooses the “C” - Control channel frequency automatically.

comment (string; Default: )

Short description of the interface

compression (yes | no; Default: no)

Setting this property to yes will allow the use of the hardware compression. Wireless interface must have support for hardware compression. Connections with devices that do not use compression will still work.

country (name of the country | no_country_set; Default: no_country_set)

Limits available bands, frequencies and maximum transmit power for each frequency. Also specifies default value of scan-list. Value no_country_set is an FCC compliant set of channels.

default-ap-tx-limit (integer [0..4294967295]; Default: 0)

This is the value of ap-tx-limit for clients that do not match any entry in the access-list. 0 means no limit.

default-authentication (yes | no; Default: yes)

For AP mode, this is the value of authentication for clients that do not match any entry in the access-list. For station mode, this is the value of connect for APs that do not match any entry in the connect-list

default-client-tx-limit (integer [0..4294967295]; Default: 0)

This is the value of client-tx-limit for clients that do not match any entry in the access-list. 0 means no limit

default-forwarding (yes | no; Default: yes)

This is the value of forwarding for clients that do not match any entry in the access-list

disable-running-check (yes | no; Default: no)

When set to yes interface will always have running flag. If value is set to no', the router determines whether the card is up and running - for AP one or more clients have to be registered to it, for station, it should be connected to an AP.

disabled (yes | no; Default: yes)

Whether interface is disabled

disconnect-timeout (time [0s..15s]; Default: 3s)

This interval is measured from third sending failure on the lowest data rate. At this point 3 * (hw-retries + 1) frame transmits on the lowest data rate had failed.
During disconnect-timeout packet transmission will be retried with on-fail-retry-time interval. If no frame can be transmitted successfully during diconnect-timeout, connection is closed, and this event is logged as "extensive data loss". Successful frame transmission resets this timer.

distance (integer | dynamic | indoors; Default: dynamic)

How long to wait for confirmation of unicast frames before considering transmission unsuccessful. Value 'dynamic' causes AP to detect and use smallest timeout that works with all connected clients.
Acknowledgments are not used in Nstreme protocol.

frame-lifetime (integer [0..4294967295]; Default: 0)

Discard frames that have been queued for sending longer than frame-lifetime. By default, when value of this property is 0, frames are discarded only after connection is closed.

frequency (integer [0..4294967295]; Default: )

Channel frequency value in MHz on which AP will operate.

Allowed values depend on selected band, and are restricted by country setting and wireless card capabilities.
This setting has no effect if interface is in any of station modes, or in wds-slave mode, or if DFS is active.

Note: If using mode "superchannel", any frequency supported by the card will be accepted, but on the RouterOS client, any non-standard frequency must be configured in the scan-list, otherwise it will not be scanning in non-standard range. In Winbox, scanlist frequencies are in bold, any other frequency means the clients will need scan-list configured.

List of available channels for each band can be seen in /interface wireless info allowed-channels. This mode allows you to test wireless channels outside the default scan-list and/or regulatory domain. This mode should only be used in controlled environments, or if you have a special permission to use it in your region. Before v4.3 this was called Custom Frequency Upgrade, or Superchannel. Since RouterOS v4.3 this mode is available without special key upgrades to all installations.

frequency-offset (integer [-2147483648..2147483647]; Default: 0)

Allows to specify offset if the used wireless card operates at a different frequency than is shown in RouterOS, in case a frequency converter is used in the card. So if your card works at 4000MHz but RouterOS shows 5000MHz, set offset to 1000MHz and it will be displayed correctly. The value is in MHz and can be positive or negative.

guard-interval (any | long; Default: any)

Whether to allow use of short guard interval (refer to 802.11n MCS specification to see how this may affect throughput). "any" will use either short or long, depending on data rate, "long" will use long.

hide-ssid (yes | no; Default: no)

yes - AP does not include SSID in the beacon frames, and does not reply to probe requests that have broadcast SSID.

no - AP includes SSID in the beacon frames, and replies to probe requests that have broadcast SSID.

This property has effect only in AP mode. Setting it to yes can remove this network from the list of wireless networks that are shown by some client software. Changing this setting does not improve security of the wireless network, because SSID is included in other frames sent by the AP.

Specifies maximum fragment size in bytes when transmitted over wireless medium. 802.11 standard packet (MSDU in 802.11 terminology) fragmentation allows packets to be fragmented before transmitting over wireless medium to increase probability of successful transmission (only fragments that did not transmit correctly are retransmitted). Note that transmission of fragmented packet is less efficient than transmitting unfragmented packet because of protocol overhead and increased resource usage at both - transmitting and receiving party.

Number of times sending frame is retried without considering it a transmission failure.
Data rate is decreased upon failure and frame is sent again. Three sequential failures on lowest supported rate suspend transmission to this destination for the duration of on-fail-retry-time. After that, frame is sent again. The frame is being retransmitted until transmission success, or until client is disconnected after disconnect-timeout. Frame can be discarded during this time if frame-lifetime is exceeded.

installation (any | indoor | outdoor; Default: any)

Adjusts scan-list to use indoor, outdoor or all frequencies for the country that is set.

interworking-profile (enabled | disabled; Default: disabled)

keepalive-frames (enabled | disabled; Default: enabled)

l2mtu (integer [0..65536]; Default: 1600)

mac-address (MAC; Default: )

master-interface (string; Default: )

Name of wireless interface that has virtual-ap capability. Virtual AP interface will only work if master interface is in ap-bridge, bridge, station or wds-slave mode. This property is only for virtual AP interfaces.

max-station-count (integer [1..2007]; Default: 2007)

Maximum number of associated clients. WDS links also count toward this limit.

station-wds - Same as station, but create WDS link with AP, using proprietary extension. AP configuration has to allow WDS links with this device. Note that this mode does not use entries in wds.

station-pseudobridge - Same as station, but additionally perform MAC address translation of all traffic. Allows interface to be bridged.

station-pseudobridge-clone - Same as station-pseudobridge, but use station-bridge-clone-mac address to connect to AP.

AP modes:

ap-bridge - Basic access point mode.

bridge - Same as ap-bridge, but limited to one associated client.

wds-slave - Same as ap-bridge, but scan for AP with the same ssid and establishes WDS link. If this link is lost or cannot be established, then continue scanning. If dfs-mode is radar-detect, then APs with enabled hide-ssid will not be found during scanning.

Special modes:

alignment-only - Put interface in a continuous transmit mode that is used for aiming remote antenna.

nstreme-dual-slave - allow this interface to be used in nstreme-dual setup.

MAC address translation in pseudobridge modes works by inspecting packets and building table of corresponding IP and MAC addresses. All packets are sent to AP with the MAC address used by pseudobridge, and MAC addresses of received packets are restored from the address translation table. There is single entry in address translation table for all non-IP packets, hence more than one host in the bridged network cannot reliably use non-IP protocols. Note: Currently IPv6 doesn't work over Pseudobridge

mtu (integer [0..65536]; Default: 1500)

multicast-buffering (disabled | enabled; Default: enabled)

For a client that has power saving, buffer multicast packets until next beacon time. A client should wake up to receive a beacon, by receiving beacon it sees that there are multicast packets pending, and it should wait for multicast packets to be sent.

multicast-helper (default | disabled | full; Default: default)

When set to full multicast packets will be sent with unicast destination MAC address, resolving multicast problem on wireless link. This option should be enabled only on access point, clients should be configured in station-bridge mode. Available starting from v5.15.

For advanced use only, as it can badly affect the performance of the interface. It is possible to manually set noise floor threshold value. By default, it is dynamically calculated. This property also affects received signal strength. This property is only effective on non-AC chips.

nv2-cell-radius (integer [10..200]; Default: 30)

Setting affects the size of contention time slot that AP allocates for clients to initiate connection and also size of time slots used for estimating distance to client. When setting is too small, clients that are farther away may have trouble connecting and/or disconnect with "ranging timeout" error. Although during normal operation the effect of this setting should be negligible, in order to maintain maximum performance, it is advised to not increase this setting if not necessary, so AP is not reserving time that is actually never used, but instead allocates it for actual data transfer.

on AP: distance to farthest client in km

on station: no effect

nv2-noise-floor-offset (default | integer [0..20]; Default: default)

nv2-preshared-key (string; Default: )

nv2-qos (default | frame-priority; Default: default)

Sets the packet priority mechanism, firstly data from high priority queue is sent, then lower queue priority data until 0 queue priority is reached. When link is full with high priority queue data, lower priority data is not sent. Use it very carefully, setting works on AP

frame-priority - manual setting that can be tuned with Mangle rules.

default - default setting where small packets receive priority for best latency

nv2-queue-count (integer [2..8]; Default: 2)

nv2-security (disabled | enabled; Default: disabled)

on-fail-retry-time (time [100ms..1s]; Default: 100ms)

After third sending failure on the lowest data rate, wait for specified time interval before retrying.

periodic-calibration (default | disabled | enabled; Default: default)

Setting default enables periodic calibration if infodefault-periodic-calibration property is enabled. Value of that property depends on the type of wireless card.
This property is only effective for cards based on Atheros chipset.

periodic-calibration-interval (integer [1..10000]; Default: 60)

This property is only effective for cards based on Atheros chipset.

preamble-mode (both | long | short; Default: both)

Short preamble mode is an option of 802.11b standard that reduces per-frame overhead.

On AP:

long - Do not use short preamble.

short - Announce short preamble capability. Do not accept connections from clients that do not have this capability.

The default value is all channels from selected band that are supported by card and allowed by the country and frequency-mode settings (this list can be seen in info). For default scan list in 5ghz band channels are taken with 20MHz step, in 5ghz-turbo band - with 40MHz step, for all other bands - with 5MHz step. If scan-list is specified manually, then all matching channels are taken. (Example: scan-list=default,5200-5245,2412-2427 - This will use the default value of scan list for current band, and add to it supported frequencies from 5200-5245 or 2412-2427 range.)

Since RouterOS v6.0 with Winbox or Webfig, for inputting of multiple frequencies, add each frequency or range of frequencies into separate multiple scan-lists. Using a comma to separate frequencies is no longer supported in Winbox/Webfig since v6.0.

Since RouterOS v6.35 (wireless-rep) scan-list support step feature where it is possible to manually specify the scan step. Example: scan-list=5500-5600:20 will generate such scan-list values 5500,5520,5540,5560,5580,5600

List of supported rates, used for 2ghz-b, 2ghz-b/g and 2ghz-b/g/n bands. Two devices will communicate only using rates that are supported by both devices. This property has effect only when value of rate-set is configured.

tdma-period-size (integer [1..10]; Default: 2)

Specifies TDMA period in milliseconds. It could help on the longer distance links, it could slightly increase bandwidth, while latency is increased too.

tx-chains (list of integer [0..3]; Default: 0)

Which antennas to use for transmitting. In current MikroTik routers, both RX and TX chain must be enabled, for the chain to be enabled.

tx-power (integer [-30..30]; Default: )

For 802.11ac wireless interface it's total power but for 802.11a/b/g/n it's power per chain.

Bridge port cost of WDS links are automatically adjusted, depending on measured link throughput. Port cost is recalculated and adjusted every 5 seconds if it has changed by more than 10%, or if more than 20 seconds have passed since the last adjustment.

Setting this property to 0 disables automatic cost adjustment.

Automatic adjustment does not work for WDS links that are manually configured as a bridge port.

wds-default-bridge (string | none; Default: none)

When WDS link is established and status of the wds interface becomes running, it will be added as a bridge port to the bridge interface specified by this property. When WDS link is lost, wds interface is removed from the bridge. If wds interface is already included in a bridge setup when WDS link becomes active, it will not be added to bridge specified by , and will (needs editing)

wds-default-cost (integer [0..4294967295]; Default: 100)

Initial bridge port cost of the WDS links.

wds-ignore-ssid (yes | no; Default: no)

By default, WDS link between two APs can be created only when they work on the same frequency and have the same SSID value. If this property is set to yes, then SSID of the remote AP will not be checked. This property has no effect on connections from clients in station-wds mode. It also does not work if wds-mode is static-mesh or dynamic-mesh.

dynamic also allows WDS links with devices that are not configured in wds, by creating required entries dynamically. Such dynamic WDS entries are removed automatically after the connection with the other AP is lost.

-mesh modes use different (better) method for establishing link between AP, that is not compatible with APs in non-mesh mode. This method avoids one-sided WDS links that are created only by one of the two APs. Such links cannot pass any data.

When AP or station is establishing WDS connection with another AP, it uses connect-list to check whether this connection is allowed. If station in station-wds mode is establishing connection with AP, AP uses access-list to check whether this connection is allowed.

if standard channel width (20Mhz) is not used, then 2ghz modes (except 2.4ghz-b) are not using b rates (1-11)

Frame protection support (RTS/CTS)

802.11 standard provides means to protect transmission against other device transmission by using RTS/CTS protocol. Frame protection helps to fight "hidden node" problem. There are several types of protection:

RTS/CTS based protection - device willing to send frame at first sends RequestToSend frame and waits for ClearToSend frame from intended destination. By "seeing" RTS or CTS frame 802.11 compliant devices know that somebody is about to transmit and therefore do not initiate transmission themselves

"CTS to self" based protection - device willing to send frame sends CTS frame "to itself". As in RTS/CTS protocol every 802.11 compliant device receiving this frame know not to transmit. "CTS to self" based protection has less overhead, but it must be taken into account that this only protects against devices receiving CTS frame (e.g. if there are 2 "hidden" stations, there is no use for them to use "CTS to self" protection, because they will not be able to receive CTS sent by other station - in this case stations must use RTS/CTS so that other station knows not to transmit by seeing CTS transmitted by AP).

Protection mode is controlled by hw-protection-mode setting of wireless interface. Possible values: none - for no protection (default), rts-cts for RTS/CTS based protection or cts-to-self for "CTS to self" based protection.

Frame size threshold at which protection should be used is controlled by hw-protection-threshold setting of wireless interface.

For example, to enable "CTS-to-self" based frame protection on AP for all frames, not depending on size, use command:

Nv2

MikroTik has developed a new wireless protocol based on TDMA technology (Time Division Multiple Access) - (Nstreme version 2). See the Nv2 documentation: NV2

TDMA is a channel access method for shared medium networks. It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using his own time slot. This allows multiple stations to share the same transmission medium (e.g. radio frequency channel) while using only a part of its channel capacity.

The most important benefits of Nv2 are:

Increased speed

More client connections in PTM environments

Lower latency

No distance limitations

No penalty for long distances

Starting from RouterOS v5.0beta5 you can configure Nv2 in the Wireless menu. Please take
a look at the NV2 protocol implementation status.
Nv2 protocol limit is 511 clients.

Warning: Nv2 doesn't have support for Virtual AP

Nv2 Troubleshooting

Increase throughput on long distance with tdma-period-size. In Every "period", the Access Point leaves part of the time unused for data transmission (which is equal to round trip time - the time in which the frame can be sent and received from the client), it is used to ensure that client could receive the last frame from Access Point, before sending its own packets to it. The longer the distance, the longer the period is unused.

For example, the distance between Access Point and client is 30km. Frame is sent in 100us one direction, respectively round-trip-time is ~200us. tdma-period-size default value is 2ms, it means 10% of the time is unused. When tdma-period-size is increased to 4ms, only 5% of time is unused. For 60km wireless link, round-trip-time is 400ms, unused time is 20% for default tdma-period-size 2ms, and 10% for 4ms. Bigger tdma-period-size value increases latency on the link.

Access List

Sub-menu:/interface wireless access-list

Access list is used by access point to restrict allowed connections from other devices, and to control connection parameters.

Operation:

Access list rules are checked sequentially.

Disabled rules are always ignored.

Only the first matching rule is applied.

If there are no matching rules for the remote connection, then the default values from the wireless interface configuration are used.

If remote device is matched by rule that has authentication=no value, the connection from that remote device is rejected.

Warning: If there is no entry in ACL about client which connects to AP (wireless,debug wlan2: A0:0B:BA:D7:4D:B2 not in local ACL, by default accept), then ACL for this client is ignored during all connection time.

For example, if client's signal during connection is -41 and we have ACL rule

This is a proprietary extension that is supported by RouterOS clients.

Value is in bits per second.

comment (string; Default: )

Short description of an entry

disabled (yes | no; Default: no)

forwarding (yes | no; Default: yes)

no - Client cannot send frames to other station that are connected to same access point.

yes - Client can send frames to other stations on the same access point.

interface (string | any | all; Default: any)

Rules with interface=any are used for any wireless interface and the interface=all defines interface-list “all” name. To make rule that applies only to one wireless interface, specify that interface as a value of this property.

signal-range (NUM..NUM - both NUM are numbers in the range -120..120; Default: -120..120)

Rule matches if signal strength of the station is within the range.

If signal strength of the station will go out of the range that is specified in the rule, access point will disconnect that station.

time (TIME-TIME,sun,mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat - TIME is time interval 0..86400 seconds; all day names are optional; value can be unset; Default: )

Rule will match only during specified time.

Station will be disconnected after specified time ends.
Both start and end time is expressed as time since midnight, 00:00.

Rule will match only during specified days of the week.

Align

Sub-menu:/interface wireless align

Align tool is used to help in alignment devices running this tool.

Property

Description

active-mode (yes | no; Default: yes)

If in active mode, will send out frames for align.

audio-max (integer [-2147483648..2147483647]; Default: -20)

Maxumum signal strength for beeper

audio-min (integer [-2147483648..2147483647]; Default: -100)

Minimum signal strength for beeper

audio-monitor (MAC; Default: 00:00:00:00:00:00)

Which MAC address to use for audio monitoring

filter-mac (MAC; Default: 00:00:00:00:00:00)

Filtered out MAC address that will be shown in monitor screen.

frame-size (integer [200..1500]; Default: 300)

Size of the frames used by monitor.

frames-per-second (integer [1..100]; Default: 25)

Frame transmit interval

receive-all (yes | no; Default: no)

If set to "yes", monitor will find all available devices.

ssid-all (yes | no; Default: no)

Whether to show all SSIDs in the monitor or only one configured in wireless settings.

Menu Specific Commands

Property

Description

monitor (interface name)

Start align monitoring

test-audio (integer [-2147483648..2147483647])

Test the beeper

Connect List

Sub-menu:/interface wireless connect-list

connect-list is used to assign priority and security settings to connections with remote access points, and to restrict allowed connections.
connect-list is an ordered list of rules. Each rule in connect-list is attached to specific wireless interface, specified in the interface property of that rule (this is unlike access-list, where rules can apply to all interfaces).
Rule can match MAC address of remote access point, it's signal strength and many other parameters.

Operation:

connect-list rules are always checked sequentially, starting from the first.

disabled rules are always ignored.

Only the first matching rule is applied.

If SSID or exact wireless protocol is provided in the wireless interface configuration Connect List SSIDs or wireless protocols not covered by wireless interface configuration are ignored.

If connect-list does not have any rule that matches remote access point, then the default values from the wireless interface configuration are used.

If access point is matched by rule that has connect=no value, connection with this access point will not be attempted.

If access point is matched by rule that has connect=yes value, connection with this access point will be attempted.

In station mode, if several remote access points are matched by connect list rules with connect=yes value, connection will be attempted with access point that is matched by rule higher in the connect-list.

If no remote access points are matched by connect-list rules with connect=yes value, then value of default-authentication interface property determines whether station will attempt to connect to any access point. If default-authentication=yes, station will choose access point with best signal and compatible security.

In access point mode, connect-list is checked before establishing WDS link with remote device. If access point is not matched by any rule in the connect list, then the value of default-authentication determines whether WDS link will be established.

Properties

Property

Description

3gpp (string; Default: )

area-prefix (string; Default: )

Rule matches if area value of AP (a proprietary extension) begins with specified value.area value is a proprietary extension.

Name of security profile that is used when connecting to matching access points, If value of this property is none, then security profile specified in the interface configuration will be used.
In station mode, rule will match only access points that can support specified security profile. Value none will match access point that supports security profile that is specified in the interface configuration. In access point mode value of this property will not be used to match remote devices.

signal-range (NUM..NUM - both NUM are numbers in the range -120..120; Default: -120..120)

Rule matches if signal strength of the access point is within the range.
If station establishes connection to access point that is matched by this rule, it will disconnect from that access point when signal strength goes out of the specified range.

ssid (string; Default: "")

Rule matches access points that have this SSID. Empty value matches any SSID.
This property has effect only when station mode interface ssid is empty, or when access point mode interface has wds-ignore-ssid=yes

wireless-protocol (802.11 | any | nstreme | tdma; Default: any)

interface (string; Default: )

Each rule in connect list applies only to one wireless interface that is specified by this setting.

Usage

Restrict station connections only to specific access points

Set value of default-authentication interface property to no.

/interfacewirelessset station-wlan default-authentication=no

Create rules that matches allowed access points. These rules must have connect=yes and interface equal to the name of station wireless interface.

Select preferred access points

Create rules that match preferred access points. These rules must have connect=yes and interface equal to the name of station wireless interface.

Put rules that match preferred access points higher in the connect-list, in the order of preference.

Restrict WDS link establishment

Place rules that match allowed access points at the top.

Add deny-all rule at the end of connect list.

Info

Sub-menu:/interface wireless info

Property

Description

2ghz-10mhz-power-channels ()

2ghz-11n-channels ()

2ghz-5mhz-power-channels ()

2ghz-b-channels ()

2ghz-g-channels ()

2ghz-g-turbo-channels ()

5ghz-10mhz-power-channels ()

5ghz-11n-channels ()

5ghz-5mhz-power-channels ()

5ghz-channels ()

5ghz-turbo-channels ()

capabilities ()

chip-info ()

default-periodic-calibration ()

firmware ()

ht-chains ()

interface-type ()

name ()

pci-info ()

supported-bands ()

Manual TX Power Table

Sub-menu:/interface wireless manual-tx-power-table

Property

Description

comment (string; Default: )

Short description of an entry

manual-tx-powers (list of [Rate:TxPower];

Rate ::= 11Mbps | 12Mbps | 18Mbps | 1Mbps | 24Mbps | ...

TxPower ::= integer [-30..30]; Default: )

name (string)

Name of the wireless interface to which tx powers will be applied.

Wireless hardware table

Warning: You must follow to regulatory domain requirements in your country. If you are allowed to use other frequencies, note that Antenna Gain and Transmit Power may decrease depending on board and frequency. Devices are calibrated only for regulatory frequencies, use non standard frequencies at your own risk. The list only specifies frequencies accepted by the wireless chip, these frequencies might not always work due to antenna that is built into the product, device design, filters and other factors. USE STRICTLY AT YOUR OWN RISK

Integrated wireless interface frequency table

Board name

Wireless interfaces

Frequency range [MHz]

Supported channel widths [Mhz]

2011UAS-2HnD

1

2312-2732

20,40

751G-2HnD

1

2200-2700

20,40 and advanced channel support

751U-2HnD

1

2200-2700

20,40 and advanced channel support

911-2Hn

1

2312-2732

20,40

911-5HacD

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

911-5Hn

1

4920-6100

5,10,20,40

911-5HnD

1

4920-6100

20,40

911G-2HPnD

1

2312-2732

20,40

911G-5HPacD /-NB /-QRT

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

911G-5HPnD /-QRT

1

4920-6100

5,10,20,40

912UAG-2HPnD /-OUT

1

2312-2732

20,40

912UAG-5HPnD /-OUT

1

4920-6100

5,10,20,40

921GS-5HPacD-15S /-19S

1

4920-6100

51,101,20,40,80

921UAGS-5SHPacD-NM

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

921UAGS-5SHPacT-NM

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

922UAGS-5HPacD /-NM

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

922UAGS-5HPacT /-NM

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

941-2nD /-TC

1

2312-2732

20,40

951G-2HnD

1

2312-2732

20,40

951Ui-2HnD

1

2312-2732

20,40

951Ui-2nD

1

2312-2732

20,40

952Ui-5ac2nD /-TC

2

2312-2732,4920-6100

20,40 and 20,40,80

953GS-5HnT /-RP

1

4920-6100

5,10,20,40

962UiGS-5HacT2HnT

2

2312-2732,4920-6100

20,40 and 20,40,80

cAP2n

1

2312-2732

20,40

cAP2nD

1

2312-2732

20,40

cAPL-2nD

1

2312-2732

20,40

CRS109-8G-1S-2HnD-IN

1

2312-2732

20,40

CRS125-24G-1S-2HnD-IN

1

2312-2732

20,40

Disc-5nD

1

4920-6100

20,40

DynaDishG-5HacD

1

4920-6100

51,101,20,40,80

Groove52HPn

1

4920-6100,2312-2732

5,10,20,40 and 5,10,20,40

GrooveA-52HPn

1

4920-6100,2312-2732

5,10,20,40 and 5,10,20,40

GrooveG-52HPacn

1

4920-6100,2312-2732

20,40,80 and 20,40

GrooveGA-52HPacn

1

4920-6100,2312-2732

20,40,80 and 20,40

LDF-5nD

1

4920-6100

20,40

LHG-5nD

1

4920-6100

20,40

mAP2n

1

2312-2732

20,40

mAP2nD

1

2312-2732

20,40

mAPL-2nD

1

2312-2732

20,40

Metal2SHPn

1

2200-2700

20,40 and advanced channel support

Metal5SHPn

1

4800-6100

5,10,20,40 and advanced channel support

Metal9HPn

1

902-928

5,10,20

MetalG-52SHPacn

1

4920-6100,2312-2732

20,40,80 and 20,40

OmniTikG-5HacD

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

OmniTikPG-5HacD

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

OmniTIKU-5HnD

1

4800-6100

20,40

OmniTIKUPA-5HnD

1

4800-6100

20,40

QRTG-2SHPnD

1

2312-2732

20,40

SEXTANTG-5HPnD

1

4920-6100

20,40

SXT2nDr2

1

2312-2732

20,40

SXT5HacD2n

2

2312-2732,4920-6100

51,101,20,40 and 51,101,20,40,80

SXT5HPnDr2

1

4920-6100

20,40

SXT5nDr2

1

4920-6100

20,40

SXTG-2HnD

1

2200-2700

20,40

SXTG-2HnDr2

1

2300-2700

20,40

SXTG-5HPacD

1

4920-6100

51,101,20,40,80

SXTG-5HPacD-HG /-SA

1

4920-6100

51,101,20,40,80

SXTG-5HPnD-HGr2 /-SAr2

1

4920-6100

20,40

SXTG-6HPnD

1

5500-6500

20,40

SXTsq2nD

1

2312-2484

20,40

wAP2nD /-BE

1

2312-2732

20,40

wAPG-5HacT2HnD /-BE

2

2312-2732,4920-6100

20,40 and 20,40,80

R11e-2HnD

1

2312-2732

20,40

R11e-2HPnD

1

2312-2732

20,40

R11e-5HacD

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

R11e-5HacT

1

4920-6100

20,40,80

R11e-5HnD

1

4920-6100

20,40

R2SHPn

1

2200-2700

20,40 and advanced channel support

R52H

1

4920-6100,2192-2507

20 and 20

R52HnD

1

4800-6100,2200-2700

20,40 and 20,40

R52nM

1

4800-6100,2200-2700

20,40 and 20,40 and advanced channel support

R5SHPn

1

4800-6100

20,40 and advanced channel support

NOTES:

- Only in 802.11a/n standard

Nstreme

Sub-menu:/interface wireless nstreme

This menu allows to switch a wireless card to the nstreme mode. In this case the card will work only with nstreme clients.

The method how to combine frames. A number of frames may be combined into a bigger one to reduce the amount of protocol overhead (and thus increase speed). The card is not waiting for frames, but in case a number of packets are queued for transmitting, they can be combined. There are several methods of framing:

none - do nothing special, do not combine packets (framing is disabled)

best-fit - put as many packets as possible in one frame, until the framer-limit limit is met, but do not fragment packets

exact-size - put as many packets as possible in one frame, until the framer-limit limit is met, even if fragmentation will be needed (best performance)

dynamic-size - choose the best frame size dynamically

name (string)

Name of an interface, to which setting will be applied. Read only.

Note: The settings here (except for enabling nstreme) are relevant only on Access Point, they are ignored for client devices! The client automatically adapts to the AP settings.
WDS for Nstreme protocol requires using station-wds mode on one of the peers. Configurations with WDS between AP modes (bridge and ap-bridge) will not work.

Nstreme Dual

Sub-menu:/interface wireless nstreme-dual

Two radios in nstreme-dual-slave mode can be grouped together to make nstreme2 Point-to-Point connection. To put wireless interfaces into a nstreme2 group, you should set their mode to nstreme-dual-slave. Many parameters from /interface wireless menu are ignored, using the nstreme2, except:

Whether the interface should always be treated as running even if there is no connection to a remote peer

disabled (yes | no; Default: yes)

framer-limit (integer [64..4000]; Default: 2560)

Maximal frame size

framer-policy (best-fit | exact-size | none; Default: none)

The method how to combine frames. A number of frames may be combined into one bigger one to reduce the amout of protocol overhead (and thus increase speed). The card are not waiting for frames, but in case a number packets are queued for transmitting, they can be combined. There are several methods of framing:

none - do nothing special, do not combine packets

best-fit - put as much packets as possible in one frame, until the framer-limit limit is met, but do not fragment packets

exact-size - put as much packets as possible in one frame, until the framer-limit limit is met, even if fragmentation will be needed (best performance)

signal strength level at different rates together with time how long were these rates used

tdma-retx ()

tdma-rx-size ()

tdma-timing-offset ()

tdma-timing-offset is proportional to distance and is approximately two times the propagation delay.
AP measures this so that it can tell clients what offset to use for their transmissions - clients then subtract this offset from their target transmission time such that propagation delay is accounted for and transmission arrives at AP when expected. You may occasionally see small negative value (like few usecs) there for close range clients because of additional unaccounted delay that may be produced in transmitter or receiver hardware that varies from chipset to chipset.

tdma-tx-size (integer)

Value in bytes that specifies the size of data unit whose loss can be detected (data unit over which CRC is calculated) sent by device. In general - the bigger the better, because overhead is less. On the other hand, small value in this setting can not always be considered a signal that connection is poor - if device does not have enough pending data that would enable it to use bigger data units (e.g. if you are just pinging over link), this value will not go up.

Security Profiles

Sub-menu:/interface wireless security-profiles

Security profiles are configured under the /interface wireless security-profiles path in the console, or in the "Security Profiles" tab of the "Wireless" window in the WinBox. Security profiles are referenced by the Wireless interface security-profile property and security-profile property of Connect Lists.

static-keys-required - WEP mode. Do not accept and do not send unencrypted frames. Station in static-keys-required mode will not connect to an Access Point in static-keys-optional mode.

static-keys-optional - WEP mode. Support encryption and decryption, but allow also to receive and send unencrypted frames. Device will send unencrypted frames if encryption algorithm is specified as none. Station in static-keys-optional mode will not connect to an Access Point in static-keys-required mode. See also: static-sta-private-algo, static-transmit-key.

dynamic-keys - WPA mode.

name (text; Default: )

Name of the security profile

WPA properties

Set of supported authentication types, multiple values can be selected. Access Point will advertise supported authentication types, and client will connect to Access Point only if it supports any of the advertised authentication types.

disable-pmkid (no | yes; Default: no)

Whether to include PMKID into the EAPOL frame sent out by the Access Point. Disabling PMKID can cause compatibility issues with devices that use the PMKID to connect to an Access Point.

Access Point advertises that it supports specified ciphers, multiple values can be selected. Client attempts connection only to Access Points that supports at least one of the specified ciphers. One of the ciphers will be used to encrypt unicast frames that are sent between Access Point and Station.

group-ciphers (tkip | aes-ccm; Default: aes-ccm)

Access Point advertises one of these ciphers, multiple values can be selected. Access Point uses it to encrypt all broadcast and multicast frames. Client attempts connection only to Access Points that use one of the specified group ciphers.

aes-ccm - more secure WPA encryption protocol, based on the reliable AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). Networks free of WEP legacy should use only this cipher.

group-key-update (time: 30s..1h; Default: 5m)

Controls how often Access Point updates the group key. This key is used to encrypt all broadcast and multicast frames. property only has effect for Access Points.

wpa-pre-shared-key (text; Default: )

WPA pre-shared key mode requires all devices in a BSS to have common secret key. Value of this key can be an arbitrary text. Commonly referred to as the network password for WPA mode. property only has effect when wpa-psk is added to authentication-types.

wpa2-pre-shared-key (text; Default: )

WPA2 pre-shared key mode requires all devices in a BSS to have common secret key. Value of this key can be an arbitrary text. Commonly referred to as the network password for WPA2 mode. property only has effect when wpa2-psk is added to authentication-types.

Note: RouterOS also allows to override pre-shared key value for specific clients, using either the private-pre-shared-key property, or the Mikrotik-Wireless-Psk attribute in the RADIUS MAC authentication response. This is an extension.

WPA EAP properties

These properties have effect only when authentication-types contains wpa-eap or wpa2-eap, and mode is set to dynamic-keys.

EAP identity that is sent by client at the beginning of EAP authentication. This value is used as a value for User-Name attribute in RADIUS messages sent by RADIUS EAP accounting and RADIUS EAP pass-through authentication.

mschapv2-username (text; Default: )

Username to use for authentication when eap-ttls-mschapv2 authentication method is being used. This property only has effect on Stations.

mschapv2-password (text; Default: )

Password to use for authentication when eap-ttls-mschapv2 authentication method is being used. This property only has effect on Stations.

verify-certificate - Require remote device to have valid certificate. Check that it is signed by known certificate authority. No additional identity verification is done. Certificate may include information about time period during which it is valid. If router has incorrect time and date, it may reject valid certificate because router's clock is outside that period. See also the Certificates configuration.

dont-verify-certificate - Do not check certificate of the remote device. Access Point will not require client to provide certificate.

no-certificates - Do not use certificates. TLS session is established using 2048 bit anonymous Diffie-Hellman key exchange.

verify-certificate-with-crl - Same as verify-certificate but also checks if the certificate is valid by checking the Certificate Revocation List.

tls-certificate (none | name; Default: none)

Access Point always needs a certificate when configured when tls-mode is set to verify-certificate, or is set to dont-verify-certificate. Client needs a certificate only if Access Point is configured with tls-mode set to verify-certificate. In this case client needs a valid certificate that is signed by a CA known to the Access Point. This property only has effect when tls-mode is not set to no-certificates and eap-methods contains eap-tls.

Note: The order of allowed authentication methods in eap-methods is important, the same order is going to be used to send authentication method offers to the Station. Example: Access Point uses security-profile where eap-methods is set to eap-tls,passthrough; 1) Access Point offers EAP-TLS method to the client; 2) Client refuses; 3) Access Point starts relaying EAP communication to the radius server.

Note: When the AP is used for passthrough it is not required to add certificates on the AP itself, the AP device works as a transparent bridge and forwards the EAP-TLS association data from RADIUS server to the end client.

Note: When tls-mode is using either verify-certificate or dont-verify-certificate, then the remote device has to support one of the RC4-MD5, RC4-SHA or DES-CBC3-SHA TLS cipher suites. When using no-certificates mode, then the remote device must support "ADH-DES-CBC3-SHA" cipher suite.

RADIUS properties

Property

Description

radius-mac-authentication (yes | no; Default: no)

This property affects the way how Access Point processes clients that are not found in the Access List.

no - allow or reject client authentication based on the value of default-authentication property of the Wireless interface.

yes - Query RADIUS server using MAC address of client as user name. With this setting the value of default-authentication has no effect.

radius-mac-accounting (yes | no; Default: no)

radius-eap-accounting (yes | no; Default: no)

radius-called-format (mac | mac:ssid | ssid; Default: mac:ssid)

interim-update (time; Default: 0)

When RADIUS accounting is used, Access Point periodically sends accounting information updates to the RADIUS server. This property specifies default update interval that can be overridden by the RADIUS server using Acct-Interim-Interval attribute.

By default Access Point uses an empty password, when sending Access-Request during MAC authentication. When this property is set to as-username-and-password, Access Point will use the same value for User-Password attribute as for the User-Name attribute.

radius-mac-caching (disabled | time; Default: disabled)

If this value is set to time interval, the Access Point will cache RADIUS MAC authentication responses for specified time, and will not contact RADIUS server if matching cache entry already exists. Value disabled will disable cache, Access Point will always contact RADIUS server.

WEP properties

These properties have effect only when mode is set to static-keys-required or static-keys-optional.

Access Point will use the specified key to encrypt frames for clients that do not use private key. Access Point will also use this key to encrypt broadcast and multicast frames. Client will use the specified key to encrypt frames if static-sta-private-algo is set to none. If corresponding static-algo-N property has value set to none, then frame will be sent unencrypted (when mode is set to static-keys-optional) or will not be sent at all (when mode is set to static-keys-required).

Encryption algorithm to use with station private key. Value none disables use of the private key. This property is only used on Stations. Access Point has to get corresponding value either from private-algo property, or from Mikrotik-Wireless-Enc-Algo attribute. Station private key replaces key 0 for unicast frames. Station will not use private key to decrypt broadcast frames.

Management frame protection

RouterOS implements proprietary management frame protection algorithm based on shared secret. Management frame protection means that RouterOS wireless device is able to verify source of management frame and confirm that particular frame is not malicious. This feature allows to withstand deauthentication and disassociation attacks on RouterOS based wireless devices.

Management protection mode is configured in security-profile with management-protection setting. Possible values are: disabled - management protection is disabled (default), allowed - use management protection if supported by remote party (for AP - allow both, non-management protection and management protection clients, for client - connect both to APs with and without management protection), required - establish association only with remote devices that support management protection (for AP - accept only clients that support management protection, for client - connect only to APs that support management protection).

Operation details

RADIUS MAC authentication

Note: RADIUS MAC authentication is used by access point for clients that are not found in the access-list, similarly to the default-authentication property of the wireless interface. It controls whether client is allowed to proceed with authentication, or is rejected immediately.

When radius-mac-authentication=yes, access point queries RADIUS server by sending Access-Request with the following attributes:

User-Name - Client MAC address. This is encoded as specified by the radius-mac-format setting. Default encoding is "XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX".

Nas-Port-Id - name of wireless interface.

User-Password - When radius-mac-mode=as-username-and-password this is set to the same value as User-Name. Otherwise this attribute is empty.

Called-Station-Id - MAC address and SSID of the access point, encoded as "XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX:SSID" (minus separated pairs of MAC address digits, followed by colon, followed by SSID value).

Acct-Session-Id - Added when radius-mac-accounting=yes.

When access point receives Access-Accept or Access-Reject response from the RADIUS server, it stores the response and either allows or rejects client. Access point uses following RADIUS attributes from the Access-Accept response:

Mikrotik-Wireless-Mpkey - Same as Management-protection-key in Access list

Session-Timeout - Time, after which client will be disconnected.

Acct-Interim-Interval - Overrides value of interim-update.

Class - If present, value of this attribute is saved and included in Accounting-Request messages.

Caching

Caching of RADIUS MAC authentication was added to support RADIUS authentication for clients that require from the access point very quick response to the association request. Such clients time out before response from RADIUS server is received. Access point caches authentication response for some time and can immediately reply to the repeated association request from the same client.

RADIUS EAP pass-through authentication

When using WPA EAP authentication type, clients that have passed MAC authentication are required to perform EAP authentication before being authorized to pass data on wireless network. With pass-through EAP method the access point will relay authentication to RADIUS server, and use following attributes in the Access-Request RADIUS message:

User-Name - EAP supplicant identity. This value is configured in the supplicant-identity property of the client security profile.

Called-Station-Id - MAC address and SSID of the access point, encoded as "XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX:SSID" (pairs of MAC address digits separated by minus sign, followed by colon, followed by SSID value).

Acct-Session-Id - Added when radius-eap-accounting=yes.

Acct-Multi-Session-Id - MAC address of access point and client, and unique 8 byte value, that is shared for all accounting sessions that share single EAP authentication. Encoded as AA-AA-AA-AA-AA-AA-CC-CC-CC-CC-CC-CC-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX.

Added when radius-eap-accounting=yes.

Access point uses following RADIUS attributes from the Access-Accept server response:

Class - If present, value of this attribute is saved and included in Accounting-Request messages.

Session-Timeout - Time, after which client will be disconnected. Additionally, access point will remember authentication result, and if during this time client reconnects, it will be authorized immediately, without repeating EAP authentication.

WDS security configuration

WDS links can use all available security features. However, they require careful configuration of security parameters.

It is possible to use one security profile for all clients, and different security profiles for WDS links. Security profile for WDS link is specified in connect-list. Access point always checks connect list before establishing WDS link with another access point, and used security settings from matching connect list entry. WDS link will work when each access point will have connect list entry that matches the other device, has connect=yes and specifies compatible security-profile.

WDS and WPA/WPA2

If access point uses security profile with mode=dynamic-keys, then encryption will be used for all WDS links. Since WPA authentication and key exchange is not symmetrical, one of the access points will act as a client for the purpose of establishing secure connection. This is similar to how static-mesh and dynamic-mesh WDS modes work. Some problems, like single sided WDS link between two incorrectly configured access points that use non-mesh mode, is not possible if WPA encryption is enabled. However, non-mesh modes with WPA still have other issues (like constant reconnection attempts in case of configuration mismatch) that are solved by use of the -mesh WDS modes.

In general, WPA properties on both access points that establish WPA protected WDS link have to match. These properties are authentication-types, unicast-ciphers, group-ciphers. For non-mesh WDS mode these properties need to have the same values on both devices. In mesh WDS mode each access point has to support the other one as a client.

Theoretically it is possible to use RADIUS MAC authentication and other RADIUS services with WDS links. However, only one access point will interact with the RADIUS server, the other access point will behave as a client.

Implementation of eap-tls EAP method in RouterOS is particularly well suited for WDS link encryption. tls-mode=no-certificates requires no additional configuration, and provides very strong encryption.

WDS and WEP

mode, static-sta-private-key and static-sta-private-algo parameters in the security profile assigned to the WDS link need to have the same values on both access points that establish WDS link with WPA encryption.

Security profile and access point matching in the connect list

Client uses value of connect-listsecurity-profile property to match only those access points that support necessary security.

mode=static-keys-required and mode=static-keys-optional matches only access points with the same mode in interface security-profile.

If mode=dynamic-keys, then connect list entry matches if all of the authentication-types, unicast-ciphers and group-ciphers contain at least one value that is advertised by access point.

Virtual interfaces

VirtualAP

It is possible to create virtual access points using the add command in the wireless menu. You must specify the master-interface which the virtual interface will belong to. If "master-interface" mode is "station", Virtual AP will work only when "master-interface" will be active. The Virtual AP can have it's own SSID and Security Profile.

Virtual AP interface will only work if master interface is in ap-bridge, bridge, station or wds-slave mode. It works only with 802.11 protocol, Nv2 is not supported.

This feature is useful for separating access for different types of users. You can assign different bandwidth levels and passwords and instruct users to connect to the specific virtual network, it will appear to wireless clients as a different SSID or a different device.
For example, when using QuickSet to configure a guest network, the VirtualAP feature is used in the background.

To create a new virtual-ap:/interface> wireless add mode=ap-bridge master-interface=wlan1 ssid=guests security-profile=guests (such security profile first needs to be created)

Note: you can create up to 127 virtual interfaces per physical interface. It is not recommended to create more 30, since the performance will start to degrade.

Virtual Clients

Note: Starting from 6.35 only in wireless-rep or wireless-cm2 package

It is also possible to create virtual clients and have both an AP and a Client on the same physical interface. This allows to make a repeater setup with only using one hardware card. The process of configuration is exacly the same as above, but use mode station:

To create a new virtual-client:/interface> wireless add mode=station master-interface=wlan1 ssid=where-to-connect security-profile=your-profile (such security profile first needs to be created)

Note: Virtual interfaces will always use the Master interface wireless frequency. If the Master interface has 'auto' frequency enabled it will use the wireless frequency that the Master interface selected.

Sniffer

Sub-menu:/interface wireless sniffer

Wireless sniffer allows to capture frames including Radio header, 802.11 header and other wireless related information.

Property

Description

channel-time (; Default: 200ms)

How long to sniff each channel. Used only if multiple-channels=yes

file-limit (integer [10..4294967295]; Default: 10)

Allocated file size in bytes which will be used to store captured data. Applicable if file-name is specified.

file-name (string; Default: )

Name of the file where to store captured data.

memory-limit (integer [10..4294967295]; Default: 10)

Allocated memory buffer in bytes used to store captured data.

multiple-channels (yes | no; Default: no)

Whether to sniff multiple channels or a single channel. No means that all channel settings will be taken from /interface wireless, Yes means that all channel settings will be taken from scan-list under /interface wireless.

only-headers (yes | no; Default: no)

If set to yes, then sniffer will capture only information stored in frame headers.

receive-errors (yes | no; Default: no)

streaming-enabled (yes | no; Default: no)

Whether to stream captured data to specified streaming server

streaming-max-rate (integer [0..4294967295]; Default: 0)

Maximum packets per second allowed. 0 equals unlimited

streaming-server (IPv4; Default: 0.0.0.0)

IP address of the streaming server.

Note: Use the command /interface wireless info scan-list to verify your scan-list defined under /interface wireless channels when using multiple-channels=yes

Packets

Sub-menu:/interface wireless sniffer packet

Sub-menu shows captured packets.

Scan

Scan command allows to see available AP in the frequency range defined in the scan-list.
Using scan command the interface operation is disabled (wireless link is disconnected during the scan operation)
Since RouterOS v6.35 (wireless-rep) background scan is supported which can be used during the wireless interface operation without disconnecting the wireless link. Background scan is supported only using 802.11 wireless protocol.

Scan tool will continue scanning for AP until user stops the scan process. It is possible to use 'rounds' setting for the scan tool to do scan through the scan-list entries specific times. It is useful when running scan tool using scripts. Example of scan command for one round:

/interface wireless scan wlan1 rounds=1

'save-file' option allows to do scripted/scheduled scans and save the results in file for future analysis. Also this feature together with rounds setting allows to get scan results from the remote wireless clients - executing that command will start the scan tool which disconnect the wireless link, does the scan through the scan-list frequencies and saves the results to file, exits the scan and connects the wireless link back. Example:

/interface wireless scan wlan1 rounds=1 save-file=scan1

To use background wireless scan the 'background=yes' setting should be provided. Example:

/interface wireless scan wlan1 background=yes

Background scan feature is working in such conditions:

Wireless interface should be enabled

For wireless interface in AP mode - when it is operating in 802.11 protocol mode and is on fixed channel (that is - channel selection and initial radar checking is over)

For wireless interface in Station mode - when it is connected to 802.11 protocol AP.

Scan command is supported also on the Virtual wireless interfaces with such limitations:

It is possible when virtual interface and its master is fixed on channel (master AP is running or master station is connected to AP).

Scan is only performed in channel master interface is on.

It does not matter if background=yes|no - on virtual interface scan does not disconnect clients/AP, so it is always "background".

Snooper

This tool monitors surrounding frequency usage, and displays which devices occupy each frequency. It's available both in console, and also in Winbox.

It is possible to specify additional settings for the WPS-Client command:

create-profile - creates wireless security profile with the specified name, configures it with security details received from the WPS AP, specifies the wireless interface to use the new created security profile

ssid - get WPS information only from AP with specified SSID

mac-address - get WPS information only from AP with specified mac-address

Repeater

Wireless repeater will allow to receive the signal from the AP and repeat the signal using the same physical interface locally for connecting other clients. This will allow to extend the wireless service for the wireless clients.
Wireless repeater function will configure the wireless interface to connect to the AP with station-bridge or station-pseudobridge option, create a virtual AP interface, create a bridge interface and add both (main and the virtual) interfaces to the bridge ports.

If your AP supports button-enabled WPS mode, you can use the automatic setup command:

/interface wireless setup-repeater wlan1

The setup-repeater does the following steps:

searches for WPS AP with button pushed

acquires SSID, key, channel from AP

resets main master interface config (same as reset-configuration)

removes all bridge ports that were added for virtual interfaces added to this master (so there are no dangling invalid bridge ports later)

removes all virtual interfaces added to this master

creates security profile with name "<interfacename>-<ssid>-repeater", if such security profile already exists does not create new, just updates settings

creates virtual AP interface with same SSID and security profile as master

if master interface is not in some bridge, creates new bridge interface and adds master interface to it

adds virtual AP interface to the same bridge master interface is in.

If your AP does not support WPS, it is possible to specify the settings manually, using these parameters:

address - MAC address of AP to setup repeater for (optional)

ssid - SSID of AP to setup repeater for (optional)

passphrase - key to use for AP - if this IS specified, command will just scan for AP and create security profile based on info in beacon and with this passphrase. If this IS NOT specified, command will do WPS to find out passphrase.

The same options are available in the GUI:

Roaming

Station Roaming

Station Roaming feature is available only for 802.11 wireless protocol and only for station modes.
When RouterOS wireless client is connected to the AP using 802.11 wireless protocol it will periodically perform the background scan with specific time intervals. When the background scan will find an AP with better signal it will try to roam to that AP. The time intervals between the background scans will become shorter when the wireless signal becomes worse and the background scan interval will become longer when the wireless client signal will get better.

VLAN tagging

Sub-menu:/interface wireless

With VLAN tagging it is possible to separate Virtual AP traffic on Ethernet side of "locally forwarding" AP (the one on which wireless interfaces are bridged with Ethernet). This is necessary to separate e.g. "management" and "guest" network traffic of Ethernet side of APs.

VLAN is assigned for wireless interface and as a result all data coming from wireless gets tagged with this tag and only data with this tag will send out over wireless. This works for all wireless protocols except that on Nv2 there's no Virtual AP support.

You can configure your RADIUS authentication server to assign users or groups of users to a specific VLAN when they authenticate to the network. To use this option you will need to use RADIUS attributes.

Note: In case to use this option you must enable wireless-fp or wireless-cm2 package for RouterOS version up to 6.37. Starting from RouterOS v6.37 you can do that with regular wireless package.

Property

Description

vlan-mode (no tag | user service tag | use tag; Default: no tag)

Three VLAN modes are available:

no-tag - AP don't use VLAN tagging

use-service-tag - VLAN ID use 802.1ad tag type

use-tag - VLAN ID use 802.1q tag type

vlan-id (integer [1..4095]; Default: 1)

VLAN identification number

Vlan tag override

Per-interface VLAN tag can be overridden on per-client basis by means of
access-list and RADIUS attributes (for both - regular wireless and
wireless controller).

This way traffic can be separated between wireless clients even on the
same interface, but must be used with care - only "interface VLAN"
broadcast/multicast traffic will be sent out. If working
broadcast/multicast is necessary for other (overridden) VLANs as well,
multicast-helper can be used for now (this changes every multicast
packet to unicast and then it is only sent to clients with matching VLAN
ids).